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Busy week for Mammoth Ski Teams

If it seemed like Mammoth skiers and snowboarders were all over the map recently, it is because they were.

Moreover, the members of the Mammoth Ski and Snowboard teams crossed all the winter disciplines, from alpine skiing and snowboarding, to ski and snowboard cross, to cross-country skiing.

The breakdown looked like this:

January 24-25: Hole Shot Tour-Copper Mountain Resort

Mammoth Ski Team’s Madeline Riffel took a pair of bronze medals during the first of three events in the Hole Shot Tour.

The Hole Shot Cross Tour is a competition designed to bridge the gap between grassroots and world cup level for snowboard cross and ski cross. The event also brings together athletes across the country to identify the top juniors in the country. Athletes 15 (SBX)/ 16 (SX) and older compete together in an open-class style event. The top juniors will be named to U.S. Snowboarding’s and U.S. Freeskiing “Project Gold,” a group of the top development athletes in the country who will train together in the summer and are invited to other select projects.

Athletes also qualify for Junior World Championships and World Cup events from the Hole Shot Tour.

January 25: Mammoth Mountain

Athletes from Mammoth High School swept the top of the podium across all events. While Fleur Connolly warmed-up the women’s snowboarding field with a win of over a second in the third race of the season, she finished the fourth race with a combined finish that was nearly nine seconds ahead of the rest of the women.

Devin Tubbs also completed his day with a double win in the men’s snowboarding races, while Sierra Gilfoy and Kevin Wolfe also each walked away with a double win in both ski races.

January 25: CNISSF Tahoe Donner XC Freestyle

Mammoth Middle School and Mammoth High School sent a total of 25 athletes to the CNISSF Tahoe Donner XC Freestyle race. The Mammoth contingent competed against 250 other students from northern California schools.

Ben Wisner, the director Mammoth Mountain Snowboard & Freeski Teams, explained that the athletes “were all in a USASA event on the X Games course, it is not an actual X Games event but one they qualified to enter through the Unbound Series at Mammoth.”

Executive Director of the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation, Stacy Corless, announced the 2013 Academic Elite Team. Academic Elite Team status is given to Mammoth Teams athletes in grade 5 and up with a grade point average of 3.5 and higher. Among the athletes, 111 student athletes were presented with the award, for which they had to apply and write an essay that explored how they balance snow sports and academics. A full list of recipients can be found at: http://goo.gl/uRyaX

January 26-27: U14 North Series GS, Mount Shasta

Twenty-five Mammoth U14 racers competed in the Mount Shasta U14 North Series GS. But one athlete, Ryan Foulke, did double duty. First, Foulke raced in the Inyo/Mono High School event, taking two third place finishes on Friday, then he traveled eight hours to race with his MMST teammates at Mt. Shasta on Saturday and Sunday. Eight members of the team took top 15 results including: Ladies: Eva Yguico 9th place; Sarah Ellis 15th. Men: Lachlan Anderson 8th; Barrett Calvin 9th; Samuel Richau 11th; James Gooch 13th; Erik Eisen 14th.